What are the worst things or the things you hate about the Kemper?

  • Hey guys,


    What are the worst things/things you hate about the Kemper? This could be anything really... the time between patch changes, the ergonomics, the sound etc... etc...


    Really just looking to compile a list of peeves, dislikes, rants, and "things I didn't know about before I bought it" aspects.


    Not meant to be a bash thread, but just informational; to help people (namely, moi) decide whether to buy one or not.

  • The worst Thing was that the Kemper marketing was lousy and I did Not hear anything about this Wonderful machine until a friend called me and Pointed me to a youtube Video. ?(
    Five days later it was Mine, the precious! 8o


  • Hi Drew,


    OK. It's already been determined on TGP that you've mentally purchased it...now, just pull out that credit card! :thumbup:


    The worst thing I can say is that it doesn't profile the talent of some of the people that own the amps. :S

  • That's an interesting question, and if you knew me like my friends do you'd know how picky I am, and then you'd be surprised to hear (or read in this case) that there's absolutely nothing I hate about the Kemper. Little things that could be improved maybe, but really nothing I hate about it. I'm another happy Kamper I guess :P

  • There's no "hate" thing which I have found. The great and useful stuff just increases with every firmware update.


    A librarian app is something most of us would like to see available.

  • There's lots you can ask for on personal level that you may want , but for the masses a librarian a lush spring reverb would satisfy many. On the other hand sometimes your presented with some great stuff you did not know you wanted, never was a fan of pitch effects and then we were given formant shift and a whole new world evolves.

    New talent management advice to Laura Cox -


    “Laura want to break the internet? let’s shoot another video of you covering the Nightrain solo in the blue singlet, but this time we’ll crank up the air conditioning”.

  • I love that it is the best-sounding digital representation of all the analogue amps we love out there.
    I hate that it's only a snapshot of the amp though, rather than the whole accurate spectrum of the amp. I get the "wearing another man's clothes" complaint.
    I hope that it can someday profile pedals. I hope someday there is a tone-matching option.
    Other than that, it's all bliss.

    "Heavy Metal does have a message for the rest of the world: Fuck You!" -Sebastian Bach

  • - Boot time
    - Digital crackles over AES when changing rigs
    - Lack of a librarian
    - Lack of USB audio
    - Lack of VST plugin for instant recall in a DAW
    - Inability to work as a digital clock slave (has to be master with sample rate locked at 44.1Khz)


    If they fixed the above issues and missing features it would be unbeatable.

  • I must have done over a hundred gigs now with the kpa
    Last year in the middle of a song it just stopped working
    Never fellt really comfortable about the reliabilitly after that
    Things have improved I believe but still there are forum messages about dsp errors ,two weeks repair periods, system resets and other things

  • My only gripe (and it's nothing major) is the lack of a dedicated editor/librarian. There's a guy doing a third party one that looks good, but isn't 100% functional yet. One can download a backup of their entire kemper, edit the file with their PC (delete rigs, etc) and then save it back to the kemper. I did this recently after doing a few hundred amp profiles.


    Most of everyone else's complaints I've read here so far either don't bother me or I don't see as being that big a deal. The boot time IS slower than some devices, but my tube amps didn't just snap to action either. I don't know when they did it, but the kemper does activate the last patch you ran even as it's starting up, so if you had the thing drop out on you during a gig you would be back up with the last patch sooner than the entire boot up time. (and if you were gigging with a kemper, I'd advise a freaking power conditioner anyways, like I would with ANY digital processor whether it's an axe fx or line 6.)


    Had mine since feb of 2012, taken it to every gig I played since (probably around 70 or more - I average 4-8 gigs a month) and it's never let me down. I played 8 gigs with a Mesa Roadster and it blew a tube/grid resistor, which ended a gig. Played about 10 shows with a KT88 powered VHT UL, same thing happened but it was a bad tube and fuses, took 30 minutes to get it sussed out, started the show late. Played a mesa RoadKing and power fluctuations messed with it BAD - ended up not wanting to switch channels, had to leave and grab another amp to finish the show. In my experience, Kemper has proven to be more reliable than tubes.


    Also played an outdoor gig with the kemper where I couldn't keep it in the shade all day, was 90+ degrees in the shade, hotter than hell onstage (hooray for black stages and playing gigs outdoors in parking lots) and the kemper didn't hiccup. My iphone that was sitting on it quit working (gave an overheat message) and was fine once it cooled off, but the kemper didn't even stutter. I'm not saying the kemper is bulletproof or anything, but it's been VERY reliable for me.

  • I hate the absence of amp gas... was always fun to try out new amps... it's not necessary any longer with the KPA... but still - miss it :D

    MJT Strats / PRS Guitars / Many DIY Guitars -- Kemper Profiler Rack / Kemper Remote / InEar

  • Some things :


    - lack of an librarian to sort my rigs / delete them
    - moving effect order is a pain
    - search engine to find some rigs I forgot


    - not being able to order some KPA metal covers to pimp my KPA, had to use my own :(
    - not having a small KPA version (like TI snow) to travel with it.


    everything else is fantastic :D

  • I only wish I had an editor, even my Yamaha THR amplifiers came with one, it will make a huge difference for many men....


    I agree and thought the same thing last night about my THR10C while editing a few profiles on the Kemper. But, I've read several threads/post by CK saying he is working on an Editor. I'm sure it's coming and will one of the better ones out there. Other than that, I'd like to see more reverb options. Someonew mentioned a lush spring reverb. that would make me happy. Otherwise, I'm extremely happy with the Kemper. It's without a doubt the best gear I've bought in my 65 years. :thumbup: